"Discussing climate change is out of bounds for workers at a state agency in Wisconsin. So is any work related to climate change — even responding to e-mails about the topic. A vote on Tuesday by Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, a three-member panel overseeing an agency that benefits schools and communities in the state, enacted the staff ban on climate change. 'It’s not a part of our sole mission, which is to make money for our beneficiaries,' said State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican who sits on the board. 'That’s what I want our employees working on. That’s it. Managing our trust funds.'

Adamczyk raised his concern at a public meeting on Tuesday that the board’s executive director, Tia Nelson, had spent on-the-job time working on global warming. Nelson did indeed work on climate change a bit in 2007 and ’08—at the request of the governor. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, who stepped down in 2011, appointed Nelson as co-chair of a global warming task force (PDF). 'It honestly never occurred to me that being asked by a sitting governor to serve on a citizen task force would be objectionable,' she said."

Eric Roston reports for Bloomberg April 8, 2015. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Wisconsin GOP Members on Land Board Ban Work on Climate Change" (Wisconsin State Journal) [3]

"Wisconsin Republicans Ban State Official From Answering Emails About Climate Change" (Salon) [4]

"Republicans Try To Prevent Wisconsin Official Working on Climate Change" (Guardian) [5]

"Wisconsin Board Bans Employees From Global Warming Work" (AP) [6]